By ToolzHive
About this tool
The PDF compressor makes large PDF files smaller so they are easier to email, upload to forms or store. Choose Basic for a lossless clean-up that keeps text selectable, or Recommended, Strong or Extreme to redraw each page as an optimized image for much bigger savings, which works especially well for scanned documents and photo-heavy PDFs. Everything happens in your browser, so your document never leaves your device.
How to use PDF Compressor
- Drop a PDF into the upload area or click browse. The file is opened in your browser only.
- Pick a compression level. Recommended keeps good quality at 150 DPI; Strong and Extreme make smaller files at lower resolution; Basic keeps text selectable.
- Click Compress PDF, compare the before and after sizes, and download the compressed file. Open it to check that it still looks right.
Worked example
A 12 MB scanned contract is too large for an email limit of 10 MB. With the Recommended level it becomes about 2 to 3 MB and stays easy to read. A text-only report exported from Word is usually already small; Basic can trim a little, and the tool tells you when a file is already as small as it will get.
Will I lose quality?
Basic is lossless. The other levels turn each page into a JPEG image at a lower resolution, which reduces sharpness a little and means text can no longer be selected, searched or copied. Use Recommended for a good balance, or Basic when you need selectable text.
Why did my PDF not get smaller?
PDFs that are mostly text, or that were already compressed, may have little left to remove. The tool compares the result with your original and tells you if it is not smaller, so you never download a bigger file.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The PDF is read and compressed by your browser, and the result is created on your device. Very large files depend on your device memory and may take longer.
Can it compress password-protected PDFs?
Encrypted PDFs usually cannot be read without the password, so they may fail to compress. Remove the protection with software you are authorized to use first.
Put this guide into practice
- PDF Compressor — Reduce PDF file size by compressing pages, with a choice of quality levels.